Pirates defeated Mariners by hitting 7 home runs

At T-Mobile Park on Friday, seven times, a Pirate entered the batter’s box, waved his bat, or bat, and orchestrated a stadium full of groans. That role of conductor was played by Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Santana, Jack Suwinski twice, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Tucupita Marcano, and Bryan Reynolds, who was certainly not the quietest.

On a night characterized by the orchestra of bat meeting ball, the Privateers tied their establishment record of seven homers, determinedly outslugging the Sailors, 11-6, at T-Versatile Park in a genuinely exemplary execution.

“It was an awesome day, for everyone to show up and play the way that they did,” said Suwinski fresh off his third career multi-homer game. “This is a little bit of what we saw at the beginning of the year. It just shows that we’re a good baseball team. We can play at a really good level when we’re all playing together, playing for each other.”

The offensive fireworks display that took place on Friday coincided with T-Mobile Park’s literal fireworks that followed the game. This was the third time since 1901 that the Pirates had hit seven home runs in a single game. The other times were on August 20, 2003, and August 16, 1947, both when they were playing the Cardinals. Per group history specialist Jim Trdinich, the Privateers additionally had seven grand slams on June 6, 1894, against Boston.

With a towering home run over the left-field fence, McCutchen set the tone for the concert and gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead. McCutchen is now 10 hits away from 2,000 hits in his career after scoring two hits on Friday, one of which was a single.

Santana, whose initiative assumed a significant part in the Sailors breaking their two-decade season finisher dry spell last season, snared a performance shot over the right-field wall, his most memorable homer since April 7.

In the fifth inning, Hayes and Suwinski went back-to-back, leading a five-run frame that broke the game open. As George Kirby strolled off the hill following Hayes’ homer, a melody of “We should Go Bucs!” T-Mobile Park was temporarily transformed into PNC Park West by chants from behind the third-base dugout.

Suwinski and Marcano left the stadium in the seventh inning after a string of home runs by Suwinski and Marcano. Reynolds hit the most visually stunning home run of the night in the eighth, a 403-foot moonshot that shattered the Hit It Here Cafe’s windows. This was the final home run in the series.

Given how adept Kirby has been at containing the long ball, the fact that four of the Pirates’ seven home runs were hit against him is particularly impressive. Kirby had only given up three home runs all season before entering play; Sonny Gray, Nathan Eovaldi, Zac Gallen, Justin Steele, and Hunter Brown are the only pitchers this year to have allowed fewer than three home runs. Additionally, among starting pitchers, Kirby’s 0.46 HR/9 ranked fifth.

“He’s a really good pitcher,” Reynolds said. “I’m proud of the way we came in with a good approach and we stuck with it. We were prepared. [Four] homers off anybody is impressive, but the fact we could do that off a pitcher like him is really good.”

Pittsburgh’s hostile whirlwind was required on a night when Keller, without precedent for half a month, didn’t have his pro stuff. Keller permitted a season-high six procured stumbles into six or more innings, his Period expanding from 2.44 to 3.01 by the end of the evening. The right-hander, who allowed two walks, struck out eight, walked two, and allowed two home runs, said he wasn’t sharp. He also said he planned to flush this outing and move on.

Whether it was Keller’s complete game or his 13-strikeout performance, the Pirates have appeared to be carried on several occasions this season. On this evening, the offense had him covered, doing as such in stupendous design.